Joy to the World That Never Was
by Rose Starre
Summary: It's Christmastime at the World That Never Was, and Demyx, Roxas, and Xion are eager for the holiday. No one else (besides Marluxia that is) wants to celebrate, but will the three (excuse me; four) be able to change their minds?


**I don't own anything that may or may not be mentioned in this fic.**

Demyx grinned excitedly as he watched the snow flutter down from the sky. Snowfall of this magnitude could mean only one thing: _Christmas_! (Or, Vexen _could_ have been going on a psychotic, snowy rampage. But, let's not spoil the moment.)_ What kind of joy and cheerfulness could await the Organization _this_ year?_ Demyx wondered.

Last year was something just short of interesting. Everyone kind of exchanged gifts, which was a start. But all of the presents wound up as something dangerous or just plain horrible. Demyx shuddered. Hopefully, this year would be different.

Besides, this year, Demyx had Roxas and Xion on his side. They had agreed early on to help Demyx with decorations and such. They would also help other members with gift ideas. Demyx smiled again, this year was going to be _great!_

Larxene interrupted Demyx's daydreams of the perfect Christmas celebration. "Come on, Lazy, get moving!" she shouted. Demyx jumped up and obediently "got moving". There were lights, garlands, and Christmas trees to set up, after all.

Roxas and Xion were already untangling silver and gold garlands by the time Demyx showed up. The Melodious Nocturne pitched right in, helping undo a particularly large knot.

Marluxia made an appearance and, after watching for a minute or two, decided to help as well. "What are we decorating for?" he asked while working on a knot in a gold segment.

"Christmas, of course," Xion answered simply, tugging on a different knot. Marluxia nodded. They all worked in silence until Demyx started humming "Jingle Bells".

"Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh. O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way," Xion sang softly. Soon, Roxas joined. Then, even Marluxia began to sing. What was once simple humming, turned quickly into a four-way, _a capella_ chorus. (For those of you who don't know, _a capella _means to sing without music.)

By the time the song ended, the garlands were all untangled and ready for hanging. Marluxia disappeared, but hanging the garlands wasn't all that hard, anyway. After about twenty minutes, the white and gray halls were strung with lovely strands of color.

As it turned out, Marluxia had disappeared only to get a few plants, namely, small fir trees. The trees were placed carefully, one tree to each room. Bundles made from sprigs of holly, pine boughs and tied with red ribbon were scattered on every table.

Even the Meeting Room of Despair was decorated for the occasion. Tinsel looped casually over the chairs and alternating red and green cushions were placed on the seats.

Soon, Demyx, Roxas, Xion, and Marluxia met in the Living Room That Never Was. "That sure was hard work," Marluxia said as he hung a last ornament on the little tree in the room.

"Not really," Xion countered. "You were the one doing the heavy lifting, though." Demyx nodded, but not to Xion's comment. He was busy surveying the work they had all completed. It was very well done, especially since there were only four of them.

Xemnas entered the room in a rage. "What is the meaning of this?!" he bellowed.

"W-well, sir," Marluxia stuttered, "W-we figured we'd d-decorate for the holidays… s-sir."

Xemnas scowled at the occupants of the room. "If this isn't taken down by tomorrow night, you'll all face the consequences," he growled, backing out of the room while glowering at each of them in turn.

"Man," Demyx wondered aloud, once Xemnas was out of hearing range, "Why does he always over-exaggerate?"

"I've noticed that," Marluxia stated, "Maybe he took a theatrics class?"

XXXXXXXXXX

As the day progressed, Xion and Roxas helped the others with presents. Marluxia and Demyx delivered said presents to their respective trees. Luxord, Xigbar, Lexaeus, Xaldin, and Vexen had the most trouble with the wrapping. Xemnas plainly refused to do anything.

After the other members had their presents, Demyx and the others added their own presents to the piles in which they belonged. Then, they all retreated into their rooms to see what they got.

XXXXXXXXXX

Xemnas was alone in his rather uninviting office, writing something, when he noticed the meekly decorated tree in the corner. Some poorly wrapped presents lay underneath, obviously done by inexperienced hands. He snorted in disgust and continued his work.

But, the odd little tree caught the superior's eye multiple times. Finally, he slammed his pen onto his desk and stomped over to the small sapling. The dimly blinking lights seemed to brighten as the nobody knelt down. Xemnas felt quite bizarre as he reached for the nearest gift.

The first present was apparently a cardboard box. Xemnas was about to dismiss it as a prank, when it occurred to him that there just might be something inside. (Congratulations, Xemnas, you just proved to everyone just how stupid you can be!) The box contained a small snowman figure that had a tiny red light bulb inside. Xemnas flicked the switch to the 'on' position and watched, entranced, as the clear stone-like things on the outside glowed softly with red light.

The second present wasn't as badly wrapped, aside from the wide openings already existing in the paper. The aforesaid openings were patched up with tape, but this also was poorly done, as whoever had wrapped this had used the clear tape. By looking through the rips, Xemnas saw that the present was a granite rock. The superior was quite uninterested, until he saw that the rock opened, exposing clear, glittering crystals.

The rest of the presents were rather uninteresting, apart from one. At first, it was an oddly squishy lump of wrapping paper. Xemnas braced himself, preparing for the worst. Then, the wrapping paper was torn off, exposing a slightly misshapen, roughly sewn, stuffed heart (like a stuffed animal, except with a heart). It was obviously done by Xion, as none of the other members could even _think_ about being able to sew.

Most men would throw a stuffed heart in the trash in disgust. Xemnas, however, slipped it stealthily into one of the drawers in his desk. The rock went up on a shelf and the snowman was given a new place on the corner of the desk.

Xemnas returned to his work, feeling almost happy. He hummed quietly, yet cheerfully, as he put pen to paper.

XXXXXXXXXX

Xigbar plopped down excitedly in front of the miniature fir tree. He couldn't wait to unwrap the long anticipated presents. He rubbed his hands together impatiently. Which gift to open first?

_This one!_ Xigbar thought as he reached for a big package. Red wrapping paper flew in every direction as it was torn from the box. Xigbar paused, his eye(s?) wide. It just couldn't have been; but it was. It was the newest and best Nerf gun in the neighborhood. Xigbar chuckled darkly; he was going to shoot everyone in the castle with this thing!

Xigbar set his new toy aside and scanned over the other, smaller presents. He lifted a tiny box and carefully picked away the white paper. Inside was a new kind of ammo, one that was capable of burning its victims. Xigbar excitedly loaded the bullets into his arrowguns.

Another present yielded a book filled with jokes and puns. (Oh no! Take cover, everybody! It's the dreaded puns!) "Why is bark called 'bark'?" Xigbar read. "'The first tree to be discovered was a dogwood tree.' Huh… Maybe Marluxia would get that one." Xigbar put the book down.

Soon enough, all the presents had been unwrapped, their contents scattered around Xigbar's room. Xigbar sighed contentedly, his new Nerf gun laid across his lap. "What do I do now?" he wondered aloud. He looked down at the gun and grinned. "It's assault rifle time!" he muttered crazily.

XXXXXXXXXX

Xaldin walked into his room, not expecting to find his black Persian cat draped over the branches of a mini fir tree. "Fluffy!" Xaldin scolded, "Get out of that tree! You don't know where that's been."

Fluffy seemed to grumble as he leaped from his perch. He eyed a loose ribbon and began to play with it. Xaldin also observed the ribbon. Except, he followed it to the present it was attached to.

Xaldin knelt down and ripped away the paper. He carelessly tossed a large section of the aforesaid paper on top of Fluffy. The cat meowed in surprise, and then hissed angrily. "Sorry, Fluffy," Xaldin apologized quickly, plucking the paper off the cat's head.

This present yielded a key. Xaldin was unimpressed, until he discovered the note that went with it. "This key is for a gummi ship waiting outside for you. From: Xigbar." He read. Immediately, he darted outside.

Poor, poor Xaldin was in for quite the surprise. The key, stolen from his own key-ring, was for the gummi ship he _already_ owned. He stood outside in the whirling snow, looking frantically for a brand-new gummi ship that wasn't even there. Then, he began to try the key on all the gummi ships in the lot.

In a short time, Xaldin came to his own gummi ship. He had tried all the other gummi ships, but in vain. He wearily plugged the key into the door slot. He was rather upset when the lock clicked and the door swung open.

"Xigbar," he growled, "I _will_ have my revenge." He stomped moodily inside. The angry nobody left his remaining presents under the tree and brooded over Xigbar's prank. He began to think about his revenge.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Careful… Careful…" Vexen muttered quietly to himself as he gently tipped a beaker of acidic liquid. The liquid was planned to drop into a different, highly reactive liquid. As you might have expected, the liquids exploded. But, Vexen had also been expecting this and had worn the proper protection, that is to say, a welding mask.

"Aha!" Vexen exclaimed, "I knew it!" He set the beaker down and took off his welding mask. He grinned to himself as he wrote down a few notes.

Happening to glance around his lab, Vexen spotted the tiny tree. He did a rather comical double-take as the tree had not been there before. He strode over to it and peered closely at the badly-wrapped gifts underneath.

Vexen cautiously lifted one present from the floor. The wrapping paper was carefully torn away, revealing a book on how things such as windmills worked. He gingerly pulled open the cover, flipped through a few pages, and came to a page depicting a diagram of a sewing machine.

After he had curiously looked through a minority of the pages, Vexen set the book aside to check out the small quantity of presents under the sapling. The next gift yielded a tiny metal cylinder with a small red button on the top.

You know how red buttons just beg to be pushed. Vexen couldn't resist pressing the button. The motion triggered a thin white laser beam that left a burn mark on the wall where it struck.

Upon examining the mark on the wall (that went along quite well with the _other_ marks on the wall where flames and explosions had come into contact with it), Vexen saw potential in the little laser. He immediately set about drawing up new plans for a weapon of mass destruction.

XXXXXXXXXX

_Much, _much _later…_

All the nobodies had opened their presents and had settled into bed. (Okay, I'll say this now: I'm sorry if I didn't get to your favorite Organization XIII member. [I didn't get to _my_ favorite member either, so don't feel bad.] This was getting too complicated and lengthy.)

Not even a lesser nobody stirred. As a matter of fact, _none_ of the nobodies moved. Oh, wait… Hey! Someone _is_ stirring! Let's go check it out.

Xemnas sat upright in bed, thinking. _What if,_ he thought, _Demyx was right? What if there really _is_ a Christmas? What is Christmas? Tinsel? Fairytales? Day-old stockings lined up in a row? What is Christmas? Could someone tell me that? What is Christmas? Surely I don't know._

"_And everywhere these lights. Who needs to color night? Could this whole thing be planned? I do not understand this Christmas. Trees with colored lights? Underneath they still are only trees. Do you think that one day, perhaps they might, find that Christmas is kind of a disease?_

"_Every year, it's waiting for me. Every year, it constantly defies. Placing strangers there before me. Spreading "hope" and "cheer" mixed in with "happiness", "fraternal bliss" and other Christmas lies._

"_And there's one more thing that I have discovered, that I would now like you to know: The reason for Christmas, I now realize, is an excuse to tolerate snow! Snow… I don't even like the sound of it… Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes…_

"_What is Christmas? Candles everywhere? A fire hazard any other day. _Children_ light them, no one seems to care! All for Christmas…_

"_Every year it returns here and every year it's waiting for me. Why can't Christmas disappear and just pretend it never saw me? Every year I get my hopes up that it will somehow just leave. But, every year I wake to find that, once again, it now is Christmas Eve…" _(What is Christmas? is a song by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Look it up if you don't know it.)

Suddenly, Xemnas's thoughts were interrupted by a loud bleating and the sound of hooves. Pulling open the curtains and peering out the window, the superior was met with the sight of heartless reindeer, 8 of them to be exact.

Each of the reindeer had a name, although they were simply another of the heartless experiments. One was Dasher, another called Dancer, the third was Prancer, the fourth was named Vixen, reindeer five was Comet, the sixth one was called Cupid, reindeer number seven was called Donner, and the last was named Blitzen.

Unexpectedly, one reindeer, the one called Comet, took to the air. (Oh, I've forgotten to mention, somehow the heartless had mutated and gained the ability to fly without wings.) The others also flew up after Comet and followed him.

Out of nowhere, Xemnas came up with an idea. He might be able to pretend to be this Santa Claus that Demyx had told him so excitedly about. He had the reindeer right there, at his disposal. It would be an easy matter to conjure up a sleigh, and the cloak that Xigbar had purposefully dyed red would do as well.

XXXXXXXXXX

Soon, everything was ready, sleigh and all. The heartless reindeer stomped impatiently, jingling the bells on their harnesses. Xemnas had settled in the seat and now cracked the whip over the reindeer's heads. The heartless took to the air immediately, obeying every movement of the reins. As expected, the sleigh followed after the heartless, taking its load into the skies.

Xemnas looked down at the castle, amazed that he had made it this far up. He then figured that it was about time to come in for a landing. The reins were turned and the reindeer coasted effortlessly onto the Terrace of Horror (which looked significantly less horrible due to Christmas decorations).

The metal runners of the sleigh scraped along the pristine white tiles, sending up a shower of sparks. The motion caused long scratches to appear along the tiles, thus ruining them. Xemnas winced, knowing he would have to fix that.

The sleigh eventually stopped skidding. Xemnas stumbled out, dizzy from the flight. He shook himself out of it and hoisted a moderate-sized sack out of the sleigh. (Well, in order to be a good Santa Claus, it is a necessity to bring along a few gifts.)

The entryway that opened onto the Terrace of Horror was the only possible way inside, but Xemnas made no movement toward it yet. He was trying to figure out what Demyx had said about this Santa Claus's behavior.

"_What did Demyx say again? Come on, _think_! Wasn't it something like, 'Santa Claus is _sooooo_ wonderful!'?"_ Xemnas thought._ "Oh well, who cares anyway?"_

The superior walked inside, dragging the sack behind him. He slipped silently into each of the members' rooms, dropping off a decently-wrapped present under each tree.

When Xemnas snuck into Demyx's room, he was startled to find the nobody beginning to sit up. "Santa?" Demyx asked sleepily.

"Huh? What? Oh, uh…" Xemnas stammered. 'I-I _am_ Santa Claus."

Demyx gaped at Xemnas, actually believing his words. "Santa? Hey, what happened to your hat?"

Xemnas silently scolded himself for forgetting the hat. "Oh my," he said aloud, not _completely_ lying, "I appear to have forgotten it. Or it has blown away in the wind. It _is_ quite gusty up where the reindeer fly."

The younger nobody's eyes grew quite large. "So…" he said, excitedly bouncing up and down on his bed, "What have you brought for me, Santa? What is it?"

"Be patient, Dem- I mean- little boy…" Xemnas said, quickly catching himself before saying Demyx's name out loud. The superior gently placed a present under the tree in Demyx's room.

"There, now," Xemnas said "You get along back to bed." Demyx obediently did so and Xemnas quietly exited.

The rest of Xemnas's little trip was without incident. He soon went back to where he had parked the sleigh and climbed in. The whip was cracked again and the heartless reindeer took to the skies. "Merry Christmas to all," he called down, passing in front of Kingdom Hearts, "And to all a good night!"

_And so went the first successful Christmas in the World That Never Was. Everyone awoke the next day and received the gifts that had somehow appeared overnight. Only Demyx knew the truth, and even _that_ truth was flawed. Xemnas told no one who had left the gifts and, when asked about it, would look away, knowing his secret was safe, although Demyx openly spread _his_ thoughts on the matter._

_Xigbar _did_ go around and shoot everybody in the castle, although many of the members were not happy with this. Xaldin, who had gotten the Nerf gun for his friend, stayed quiet about it; for fear that he would be attacked._

_Oh, and speaking of Xaldin… He also got his revenge. It took the form of a _real_ tarantula in the glove-box in Xigbar's gummi ship. Xigbar reacted violently, shooting the spider with two of his new burning bullets. He then only stared at the blue blood staining his gummi ship's dashboard._

_Oh, and another thing, Vexen put together his weapon of mass destruction. With it, he managed to destroy several worlds, including The Country of Musketeers. The destruction of this world was an accident, and Vexen had to piece it back together in time for Dream Drop Distance. Sadly, this took quite some time, keeping Vexen from appearing in a majority of the Kingdom Hearts games._

_And therefore everyone was satisfied._

_M__e__r__r__y __C__h__r__i__s__t__m__a__s__!_


End file.
